Under the Sea, Part One

This collection of scuba diving adventures in our local waters is recounted by Dave (Hogger) Millhouser of Lanesville. Dave provided the photographs. Seeing is believing, mostly.

Fair weather scuba divers basking at Folly Cove

"Fortunately or unfortunately, diving in New England is a lot like drinking beer. It's an acquired taste. The first time is always cold and miserable. Then you start seeing things."

Winter diver Dave Millhouser staring at Folly Cove

"I literally moved to New England for the diving. Originally to Salem. Then I got into photography. When you find something interesting, take the picture. You haven't a clue what it is. So you go look it up in one of the books on marine life." 


White knighted dorid

"For instance, I took this picture of a creature called a nudibranch. It was an odd one, a White knighted dorid. We called it the Easter Bunny nudibranch."

Anemones on the Folly Point wall

"The left side of Folly Cove is anywhere from 15 feet deep in close, to 60 feet out past the Point. That wall used to be covered with all kinds of beautiful anemones. Now it's less so but you can still find pockets of them."

Frilled anemone

"The Frilled anemone used to be all over the wall. It went away for awhile. Lately it's been coming back. I have no idea why."

Torpedo ray, camouflaged in sand

"My wife and I found this four or five foot Torpedo ray  in Folly Cove. Sue prodded it with one of my probes to get it up and swimming while I took pictures."

Torpedo ray, swimming toward us

"The Torpedo ray has electrical organs across its snout that it uses for stunning prey. We learned this the hard way. I have a vivid memory of backpedaling and taking hazy photos."

Goosefish

"The Goosefish is another one that lies camouflaged on a muddy bottom.  You'll swim over it two or three times and not see it. It has an angler on top of its head that will come up to attract little fish. Then the whole top of its mouth opens and swallows it. It has little teeny teeth that go backward.

"Norman Dupres was hunting lobster in murky water at Folly Cove. He spotted one swimming backwards. Norm reached his hand into what he thought was a hole the lobster had gone into. It was the mouth of a big Goosefish, which then clamped down on Norman's arm and started to swim away. A forty pound fish, swimming away with Norman and the lobster. Apparently at some point they reached an agreement where Norman said, 'You can keep the lobster if you give me my arm. He let go of the lobster and the Goosefish let him go.' It tore up his wet suit--pricked his skin but he was fine." 


My wife Sue and a Sea raven
Sue is on the right.

Eye of the Sea raven

"If you are a diver and just want to see stuff, the tropical coral reefs are a good idea. Around here you've got marine life hovering not just in the rocks and all of that for shelter, but you also have stuff up the water column. You can be under water and look up. We've seen blue sharks and dogfish right off Halibut Point. A 22-foot basking shark in Folly Cove. We saw its two fins, didn't know what it was, pulled up next to it."

Diving at the wreck of the  USS Haight

"I've been on the Haight, the wreck of the Liberty Ship off Rockport - in 1948 it ran aground - and I've seen a humpback whale."

Gray seal and diver

"About five years ago I was out on the Salvages. I was sitting in a crevice and this huge seal comes out from under me and puts his arms around me. I ended up scratching his belly. This went on for four or five minutes. Then it left and I thought, well this is all over. It wasn't." 



"I went up to get a breath. It came back and we did it again for another five or ten minutes. A young woman diver had been watching the whole thing. She made a painting of it. The seal was probably seven or eight feet long. The photograph above may be the same Gray seal, my best photo. I put my head in his mouth. Well, not exactly. He sort of 'tasted' me. It was nice, if scary."